Supernatural Christmas
by Fallingupsidedown
Summary: Dean and Sam want to let Christmas quietly slip away this year, but Crowley's up to something, and Cas needs the boys help to stop him. Although, sometimes you don't need to save the world today. Merry Christmas! (set around season 7 or 8)
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I own nothing**

Chapter #1

The hotel room was quiet and Dean couldn't sleep. He tossed and turned but in the end he couldn't seem to will himself to slip into unconsciousness. He was like a fussy baby and knew what he needed.

So, he grabbed his car keys and drove the Impala out on to the open road. It was 11:30 p.m. He had been trying to get to sleep for almost an hour, but he had been too uptight in the motel. In the Impala he was the king, and the open space of the world soothed his crowded mind. There was more place for his thoughts to roam, and roam they did.

They roamed in between the past, the present, and they tried to imagine the future. Usually he would be fine with that. Think about life, ponder the meaning of the universe, and let the hum and rhythm of his baby lull him into a peace that tossing and turning never could. Usually these drives were the therapy he needed, but tonight wasn't the night.

He didn't want to remember the past, and he didn't want to think about the future. He picked up a cassette tape at random and shoved it into the tape deck. No radio, just the loud and thumping base of hard rock.

But it wasn't working. He was still stuck in the city limits and everywhere he was reminded of what he was trying to forget.

Christmas lights were hung up on the houses. Nativity scenes were lit up so that you could see them in the night. Shops were open late so that last minute shoppers could get their presents. It was Christmas Eve and Dean just wanted to forget. Christmas wasn't his kind of holiday.

He kept driving until he left the town behind him. He would keep driving in a straight line until he finally numbed himself to the holiday cheer, and then he would turn around and slip back into the room like nothing had happened, like he didn't know the next day might be a day of holiday cheer for everyone else, but for the Winchester family it would be just another day. Another day to find a hunt, kill a monster, and save some lives.

Dean shook his head from dreary thoughts and started to sing with the song, let the song take him away.

After he flipped the tape and started the B-side Dean felt his eyelids drooping and knew he had finally become appropriately numb. It was just him, the trees, the road, and that's when Cas suddenly popped into the passenger seat amongst a sound of rustling angle wings.

"Dean I'm sorry for interrupting but-" Cas was cut off as the car swerved too close to the ditch. "You need to pay better attention to the road."

Dean gripped the wheel with both hands and gave Cas a sidelong and withering look. "My driving is perfectly fine. You're the reason I nearly went off the road, don't scare me like that Cas."

"You're right I shouldn't have just dropped in on you like that, but it's only because it's important."

"I guess so, it's almost midnight. What do you need?"

"Crowley's up to something."

Dean smiled without humor and brought the car to a stop so he could turn around in the middle of the deserted high way. "Of course he is. What is it this time? He wants to find the lost city of Atlantis because purgatory didn't match up to his expectations?"

"How'd you know?"

Dean just looked over at Cas and waited for him to start laughing and saying that it was a joke, but Cas was never good at joking. "You're serious?"

"Why else would I have said it if I wasn't serious?"

Dean just nodded his head. "Is there really an Atlantis?"

"I don't have any information that would point other wise."

"Alright. I guess we have to find Atlantis. When we get back to the motel we'll wake up Sam and get started on the research."

"I could just transport us there."

"No, that's okay. I'm sure it'll take Crowley longer to find Atlantis than the twenty minutes it'll take me to drive back. This is one drive I'd like to complete. I'll meet you there if you just want to wake up Sammy and get started without me."

Cas tilted his head as if a different angle would provide him with the information as to why Dean wasn't acting normally. But the answer didn't come. "You're different Dean."

"Yeah well," he looked at the dashboard. It read 12:01. "Merry Christmas."

Cas sat up straighter and decided that some mysteries weren't meant to be solved, and Dean Winchester was just one confusing mystery. "I'll meet you back at the motel."

* * *

Sam started off dreaming about nothing. It was just him and a soothing blackness, but then the dream morphed into a nightmare. From the darkness a long wail cam through and Sam found himself trying to find the source but he couldn't because there was nothing around him except the never ending blackness. The thing wailing would have to find him, and it did.

A moose slowly walked into his realm of vision and it sounded sad, maybe even hurt. Sam started walking towards the creature but that was the wrong decision. The moose's wails stopped as he locked eyes with Sam while the tall man began to approach. Then he lifted his hoof and pawed at the ground like a charging bull.

That's when Sam's comforting dream of nothingness turned into a nightmare of him being chased by a moose. Why was he even dreaming about moose? When was the last time he had even seen a moose?

And then in the middle of being chased by a gigantic moose an earthquake hits. The grounds shaking and Sam almost looses his footing. Then a voice starts to boom from above. "Sam… Sam you need to wake up… Sam…"

Sam startled awake and found Cas shaking his shoulder. "What are you doing here?"

"Dean said to come ahead early so that we can get started on research."

Sam rubbed a hand across his face. The clock said 12.02. "What's going on?"

"Crowley is trying to find Atlantis."

Sam just stared at Cas but he took the silence that came afterwards as Cas' way of saying he was being very serious. "Alright, what should we start looking for?"

"I thought we should start with the beginning of the lore."

"Plato? You want to start reading Plato?"

Cas nodded his head. "I know Greek so I picked up a copy on my way here. I was hoping that you two could use your hunter resources to find some other information."

Sam swung his legs onto the ground and that's when he noticed Dean's empty bed. Yeah, it was Christmas. "Well, the news that Atlantis is a real thing is a surprise to me. I don't think any of the other hunters are going to know anything." But Cas' face held the hope of someone who needed this to work, and Sam knew he'd end up giving Garth a call even though he thought it would be a waste of time. On second thought, maybe Dean could make that call. Garth seemed to get along with Dean better.

Sam found his laptop and stared at the blank search box. "What am I doing here Cas? What could be so important that this can't wait until morning?"

"There's an energy source in Atlantis that Crowley wants to get, and we can't let him have it."

Sam sighed and decided the straight forward approach was best. _Where is Atlantis_. It might have brought up some crazy search results, but he dealt with crazy too often to be put off now.

A few minutes later Cas broke the silence. "Dean was different when I talked to him." Sam just nodded his head as he tried to understand the musings of some guy who was potentially high while writing this particular internet article. "Why?"

Sam looked up at Cas who was sitting ram rod straight in the chair across from him. "Why is he so different tonight?" Cas nodded his head. "Well, it's Christmas. We've never had a good Christmas before. We don't tend to celebrate the holiday because of things like this." He pointed to his computer screen.

Cas shook his head. "You must have had some kind of good Christmas before."

"One. That was during Dean's last year before he went to hell as payment for bringing me back. I think he might still want to celebrate it, but there just aren't any good memories from our childhood. Honestly we don't know how to have a good Christmas."

Cas stared at him, and then slowly nodded his head. Sam went back to the laptop.

The door opened and Dean came in. "So you heard the good news Sammy? Atlantis is a real thing."

Sam smiled. "Yep, another impossibility that we'll have to make possible."

Dean pulled out the final chair around the table and plopped down Plato's _Atlantis_ , that he bought at one of the stores that had still been open. He looked over at Cas. "I guess we had the same idea."

Cas nodded his head. And he would start reading again in another moment. He would get back to this mission, but at this moment his mind was trying to process how someone couldn't have a single good Christmas. He knew the Winchester's hadn't had the best kind of childhood, but still, they should have had one good Christmas.

Maybe they just didn't remember, and since this was Christmas, and Cas was an angel that could time travel, he decided he would find that good Christmas because the Winchesters deserved something good.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter #2

At first Cas thought travelling back to find one good memory for the Winchesters would take a long time because time travel would drain his power too quickly. But after seeing one lonely and disappointing Christmas he realized he had seen them all. Anything else was just a different variation of the Winchester misery.

So, faster than he expected, Cas found himself sitting back in the chair around the table with Sam and Dean, Plato's Atlantis was completely forgotten. He just sat, thinking, and finally Dean was the one who waved his hand in front of Cas' face. "Earth to angel. If you don't want to do this anymore, you can just come back in the morning. We don't have to start this search right now. I would like to get some sleep, but –"

"You're Christmases as children were really awful."

Dean leaned back in his chair. "You don't know how to beat around the bush."

Cas just stared.

Dean and Sam stared back.

And then Cas was gone. "Angels!" Dean pushed the book he was reading away, and stood up to grab a beer that he had also gotten while he was out. "Why can't Cas be straight forward with us? If he wants our help why not stick around and help us?"

Sam closed the laptop. "I'm going to get some sleep."

"Sweet dreams Sammy." Dean picked up the remote and tried to find something on TV but there was too much Christmas. So he turned it off and quietly drank his beer in the dark.

Sammy silently hoped that no more moose would find him in his dreams.

* * *

Cas on the other hand was twelve years in the past.

John was driving slowly along the highway. The monster was reported along this stretch of the road for the past week and a half. He had done his research, and had the silver knife next to him, ready for anything. He wasn't going to let this monster take another person.

But as the night wore on he worried that he had miscalculated. The monster should be coming out, but he had yet to encounter it.

He sighed, but he wouldn't give up until morning. When the first rays of dawn came up over the horizon, that's when he'd call it a night. He looked over at the knife again. It gleamed in the moonlight, and when he looked back to the road he slammed on the breaks.

A man in a trench coat was blocking his path.

The car stopped an inch and a half in front of the man. John just stayed in the car and waited to see if the man would make a move at him. Was this the monster?

It couldn't be. None of the lore said anything about it being able to appear human.

John decided to take his chances. He opened the car door and stepped out onto the highway. "Do you need anything?"

The man in the trench coat turned his head slightly to the side. John was about to chalk him up to a crazy who broke out of the loony bin, but then the man spoke. "I needed to tell you that you're a terrible father."

This time John turned his head to the side as he inspected the man again. "You don't know what you're talking about."

"Of course I do" the man said. "You're out here on Christmas when your two boys are back at your excuse of a home trying to make it through another holiday without their father."

John put his hand in his pocket and gripped the knife he had hidden there. "Buddy, you had better just move along now. I don't need to hear the ravings of a lunatic. I don't know where you came from but you had better get back before I take you somewhere else."

The man gave John a small smile like he was amused that John thought he could harm him. "You're just as head strong as your boys."

John pulled the knife out of his pocket and slammed the car door shut. "You need to shut up right now, and move along. You don't know what's out here, and I'm not getting the overwhelming urge to protect you when the monster of the night comes out and decides to attack you."

The man's smile grew larger. "You think I don't know anything," and now he was on the verge of chuckling. "You, John Winchester, are the one here that doesn't know anything. You don't know what your boys are doing right now. You're the one who has no understanding of the destructive road you're on and that your boys are stuck with you. You're dragging them down this path, and no matter how much you try to tell yourself different, the whole, 'raise yourself' approach isn't your best plan. You John are the one who knows nothing. You especially know nothing about being a father."

John saw red. Who was this guy to come out of nowhere and tell him he's not a father? Who is this guy! John rushed forward and the man easily fell back and allowed John to take hold of his collar and push the knife up against his throat. "Who are you?"

"I'm the person you were never supposed to meet, and I, unlike you, know things. I know that you can't raise those boys with the love they deserve, and you're what some people call 'emotionally withdrawn.' You're also the reason that Dean and Sam are going to grow up and become the people who save the world from the apocalypse, more than once." John's grip loosened. "I also know that there's nothing I can tell you that will change the way you live. You're stubborn, and you're stuck with yourself. You keep saying that finding Mary's killer is what's going to save you, it's what's going to make everything better, but the truth is that it's going to be the thing that kills you. You know it'll never make things better, but it's the thing that drives you on, so you're stuck with this. You're stuck with yourself on lonely roads, but at least your boys get to be stuck with each other."

John released the man's collar and stepped back. He could only repeat his earlier question, but this time it wasn't out of anger. It was out of a quiet that he had almost forgotten he possessed. "Who are you?"

Cas straightened his coat. "I'm the person who knows that I can't change everything, but that I can give at least one thing back."

John blinked and the man was gone. The only thing left behind was the sound of fluttering wings.

He stood in the darkness and slipped the knife back into his pocket. The worst part is that a total stranger had to be the one to confront him with what he always knew. He shouldn't be a father, he wasn't cut out for what the boys needed.

John slowly walked back to the Impala and leaned his forehead against the hood. What should he do?

What could he do?

He couldn't let innocent people die. He couldn't let his boys live such awful lives.

He had to make a choice between strangers and family, and God help him, but he knew what he would pick, and it killed him. He couldn't watch people die, and he couldn't look at Dean and Sam for too long before his heart ached from his own failure.

At least with strangers he felt like he could do something, help someone. He knew he couldn't help his family, no matter how much he loved them.

John was on the verge of tears when he heard the fluttering of wings again. He looked up and the man in his trench coat holding a bloody head in his hands. It was the monster. "Go home John" he said. "I'll make sure it looks nice when you get there. Let them have at least one good Christmas. They deserve it."

John nodded his head. "Thank you."

Cas watched as the Impala disappeared into the night. Now he just had to figure out how to decorate a motel room for Christmas.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter #3

Dean sipped his beer as the TV went to a commercial break. Sam was slightly dosing, but he shot up from his slumber when Cas popped into the room and Dean yelped in surprise. "Cas what's up with the blood?"

Cas looked down and realized that the monster's blood had gotten onto his trench coat. "Sorry." He snapped his fingers and they were made pristine again.

"Where did you go?" Sam asked.

"I just had to go handle something."

Sam stood up and tried to stretch but the ceiling was low and his finger grazed the plaster above him. "Do you want to start researching again?"

"No, Dean was right before. Crowley's not going to find Atlantis tonight. You two just enjoy Christmas, and I'll come back later."

"Nope." Dean said before Cas could fly away. "You should stay. It's almost time for the lamest Winchester tradition to start."

"What tradition is that?" Cas' worry sparked. There hadn't been a tradition before. What did he change to the time line?

"We watch the Christmas special at 3:00 am every year."

Sam joined his brother on the couch. There was still thirty minutes of shut eye he could have caught before this started, but since he was already awake he decided to join Dean. "How did that become a tradition" Cas asked?

"It was unexpected" Sam said. "It started like a normal Christmas where Dad left for a hunting trip, but then he suddenly showed up and we had one of the first real Christmas' together that I can remember."

Dean started laughing at the memory. "Do you remember the decorations he tried to put up, and the tree with almost all the pine needles that had fallen off?"

Sam was laughing too. "Yeah, and the stores must have been out because the colors weren't even right. I mean why were their purple and gold decorations?"

Cas slowly sat on the couch. "It's the thought that counts."

Dean nodded his head, calmed down, and leaned back. "It was the best Christmas we had, and after that Sam and I always stayed up until three just incase Dad decided to come again."

Sam still smiled. "Once in a while he actually would show up, not at three in the morning, but he'd make it back in time and we'd have Christmas."

"It was the best holiday we had with Dad" Dean said while he turned the volume up on the TV. The opening sequence for the movie was beginning.

Cas leaned back against the old couch and let the Winchester's happiness envelop him. He smiled and said, "Merry Christmas guys."

"Merry Christmas to you too Cas."


End file.
